In this episode, Matthew Chang and Colin Russ sit down with Adam Rossi (CEO of Total Shield) to talk about what it actually takes to acquire a highly specialized American manufacturer, build a 100% domestic supply chain, and ride the coming wave of space industry growth. 

If you care about manufacturing, aerospace, defense, American supply chains, or what real reindustrialization looks like on the ground, this one is for you. 

What we cover 
- How Adam went from scaling a 250-person software company to acquiring Total Shield, a blast and ballistic shielding manufacturer with 20 years of proprietary testing data 
- Why space is now Total Shield's fastest growing market, and what well-funded space startups are actually building behind closed doors 
- A walkthrough of the shielding rooms protecting satellites, fuel tanks, and high-pressure test environments for customers like SpaceX 
- Why Total Shield runs a 100% American supply chain, and why Adam says the real barrier to doing it isn't cost, it's relationships 
- How to use AI to capture the knowledge of a retiring founder before it walks out the door forever 

Chapters 
0:00 Space Startup Boom 
0:49 Meet Adam Rossi 
2:21 From Software to Manufacturing 
5:14 The Hard Truth About Acquiring a Niche Manufacturer 
11:34 Inside the Shielding Rooms 
23:13 The Retiring Founder Problem and What's Next 

Guest: Adam Rossi, CEO at Total Shield 

Find Adam Rossi: 
https://x.com/RossiAdam 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrossi-indie/ 

Find Total Shield: https://totalshield.com 

Find Matthew Chang: 
https://x.com/MatthewChang
https://www.instagram.com/the.matthewchang
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewachang/
https://www.tiktok.com/@the.matthewchang 

Find Colin Russ: 
https://x.com/ThaaatColin 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinruss/ 

Find Chang Robotics: 
https://changrobotics.ai 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/changrobotics/ 

Follow ReForge 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-reforge-podcast/ X: https://x.com/thereforgepod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereforgepod/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereforgepod Website: https://thereforgepodcast.com/ 

Want to be a guest or partner? 
If you're building, funding, operating, or shaping the future of U.S. manufacturing, we'd love to hear from you. Email: [email protected] 

About ReForge 
ReForge is a podcast featuring conversations with the leaders reindustrializing America. This show exists to prove American reindustrialization is possible, pivotal, and pressing. Hosted by Matthew Chang and Colin Russ. 

Produced by Chang Robotics.